Tennessee defensive back Cameron Sutton celebrates stopping Utah State on 3rd down during the Vols' season-opener football game against the Aggies on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It's supposed to be all about the football game.
The setting and the schedule make that focus a little trickier to maintain.
On their first full day here ahead of Friday's TaxSlayer Bowl matchup with Iowa, the Tennessee Volunteers were greeted by a warm, sunny Florida afternoon before their first on-site practice for the program's first bowl game in four years.
The trip is new to nearly every player on the roster, and managing the game preparations and the off-field fun is a balance the Vols will have to find throughout the week.
"It's exciting to come down here and play the game that we love," cornerback Cam Sutton said before Tennessee's practice at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida.
"We do the things throughout the week with the team events and things like that, and that's more opportunity for us to bond and come together, especially with a special time like this in a bowl game.
"Leading up to the game on Friday, we're going to make some of the memories that we'll cherish for the rest of our lives, and we've just got to finish it out on Friday and hopefully come out with the win."
Tennessee and Iowa will mix business and pleasure throughout the week as part of the TaxSlayer Bowl's schedule, and though temperatures are expected drop slightly, it was nearly 80 degrees when the Vols began practice shortly after noon Monday at the stadium that hosts UNF's track and soccer teams.
Amid the practices and team meetings and video-study sessions are welcome dinners and beach outings that can challenge a team that is new to the whole thing.
"It's definitely a business trip," linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin said. "We come here to have fun, but our main focus is to win the game. Today is our first practice down here, and we're going to make sure we get that accomplished.
"It's just a little bit of time to relax and get around each other and enjoy each other, but everyone has that focus at the end of the day, and when it's time to go to meetings and go to practice, everyone has to lock back in and be ready to attack."
Much of the legwork regarding the game plan for Friday's game is complete, and this week, coach Butch Jones said, is more about "fine-tuning" the details for Tennessee's first bowl game since 2010.
The Vols have examined "themes" from other bowl games, Jones said -- a list that includes missed tackles, big plays and the added importance of special teams that have been deciding factors in other postseason games so far.
The small details Jones emphasizes so much seemingly ad nauseum can get lost in the shuffle when the weather is nice, there are fun events on the itinerary and the beach is nearby, but Reeves-Maybin doesn't believe the Vols will struggle to be razor sharp in their preparation for the Hawkeyes.
UT coach Butch Jones walks the sidelines during the game against Arkansas State at Neyland Stadium in this file photo."I don't think so," said the sophomore. "You guys probably think we're a young team, but I feel like we've got a lot of mature guys in the room throughout our team. I feel like everyone will be able to stay focused."
Jones said it's on him and his coaching staff, along with his team's veterans, to keep the Vols in line this week with the stakes and significance of this game for the 2014 season and the program's trajectory as high as they are.
"We stepped off that plane, and Butch had a big smile on his face. He was happy to see everybody," said offensive tackle Jacob Gilliam, a fifth-year senior who was a freshman walk-on when Tennessee played in the 2010 Music City Bowl.
"It's a big moment for our program to be out here playing in a bowl game. For so many years we didn't get that chance. It's great for all these young guys -- we've got a lot of them -- because it's good for them to be out here practicing.
"It's good for me. I get one last chance to play some ball. Stepping on the practice field, I'm kind of ready to get away from all this media stuff and play a little ball."
Sutton, a film junkie who's been a cornerstone for an improved Tennessee defense, is as all-business as any player on the team, and he correctly noted the lasting memory of the Vols' trip to Jacksonville will be the outcome of Friday's game.
"It's definitely a business trip," he said. "Our first priority is to come down here and get the win. The memories and things like that come with it as well, but the memory will last longer if we get the win. That's what it's really all about."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.